Dcfs Doubt Resurfaces As Baby Dies

Mother Had History Of Mental Problems

She had voluntarily given up her first two children, and her third pregnancy was an accident. She tried to abort it by swigging rubbing alcohol.

A month later, a psychologist determined the 20-year-old West Side woman suffered from depression and suggested she was "not capable of managing the stress of pregnancy and the care of her children," according to records of her case.

Nevertheless, by the time she gave birth to a healthy baby boy on June 4, the woman was deemed a "responsible and attentive mother" by a private agency hired by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.

Friday afternoon, feeling "cooped up," she put the 5-month-old baby in a back bedroom, gave it a bottle of milk and went out to "party," police said. When she returned home at 11 a.m. Sunday--47 hours later--she found the baby's body, already showing signs of decomposition, lying in his bassinet next to a bottle of curdled milk.

An autopsy was inconclusive, and no charges have been filed against the woman, who is being treated for depression at a psychiatric hospital. The police investigation continues.

The child's death has refocused attention on how DCFS and the private agencies it employs protect children from dysfunctional parents.

Some police officers and social workers privately questioned why so troubled a woman--whose two other children are being raised by others--was allowed to care for the baby boy.

Even the woman's relatives wondered why DCFS allowed the woman to live alone with the baby.

"I don't see why the state would let her bring this baby home," the woman's aunt said Wednesday. "They should be watching them and teaching them to be responsible. I don't think they were monitoring her close enough."

Martha Allen, spokeswoman for DCFS, said she was not aware of many of the woman's alleged problems but said the agency would "pull out all stops" to determine what happened.

Thresholds, a private agency hired by DCFS to counsel mentally ill mothers, including the West Side woman, did not respond to several phone messages.

In documents obtained by the Tribune, the woman is described as being borderline retarded, severely depressed and occasionally suicidal.

She gave birth to her first child, a boy, in March 1991 when she was 15 years old, and voluntarily gave the boy to a relative to raise.

The woman was referred to Thresholds in November 1993 for counseling in parenting and independent living. The private agency specializes in helping mothers with psychological needs and provides counseling, supervised housing, a nursery and classes for General Education Diplomas.

When she became pregnant again, the woman moved into a North Side apartment provided by Thresholds and was encouraged to adopt a "more normal lifestyle," records show. Although she maintained a neat apartment, she complained of feeling isolated and bored and normally stayed with relatives on the West Side.

The woman gave birth to a baby girl in August 1994, and early reports from a Thresholds counselor indicated that she did "quite well with her daughter."

But in October of that year, the woman told counselors that she wanted to turn the baby over to the state because she felt overwhelmed and was "concerned that she might harm her in some way if she continued being the primary caregiver," reports show.

The woman unintentionally became pregnant with her third child, the boy found dead Sunday, in the fall of 1994, reports indicate. In January, 18 weeks' pregnant and despondent, she took two swigs of rubbing alcohol because she believed that it would induce a miscarriage, reports said.

A month later, during a psychological examination, the woman described herself as "nice" and "quick-tempered" and said she "don't talk too much." She also said she was constantly depressed, "never having experienced a happy time in her life."

"She admits that she is so sad or unhappy that she cannot stand it anymore," the report reads. "At the present time, she displays a major depression recurrent and with psychotic features." The report also suggests that "she does not appear capable of managing the stress of a pregnancy and the care of her children."

Nevertheless, when her baby was born in June, the woman was allowed to keep the child, based on the recommendation of a Thresholds caseworker, who described her in a report as "a responsible and attentive mother."

Two months later, in August, the woman allegedly stabbed another resident at a Thresholds building with whom she had "a long-standing antagonistic relationship." Complete reports on the stabbing were unavailable.

She then moved into her own apartment on the West Side with the baby.

"Despite the negative circumstances under which (the woman) left (the Thresholds building), she has made great progress in the area of independent housing toward the ultimate goal of independent living," reads a Threshold report from Sept. 11.

A court-ordered "risk assessment" of the mother was done just four weeks before the child died. Said the report: "Results were satisfactory."